Verbier

I have decided on Verbier for my skiing trip this year, after much searching
around, listening to first-hand reports and also the strength of the GBP to
CHF :-)
I have searched on Google for posts about the resort on this newsgroup but
many are from the late-90s and very few from recently.

Do any of you here have experience of this resort ? A few questions if so:

The best place to rent skis and boots in the village
Best restaurants
Experiences of the Geneva to Martigny train service

Many thanks

Joe

Joe Hunt wrote:

I have decided on Verbier for my skiing trip this year, after much searching
around, listening to first-hand reports and also the strength of the GBP to
CHF :-)
I have searched on Google for posts about the resort on this newsgroup but
many are from the late-90s and very few from recently.

Do any of you here have experience of this resort ? A few questions if so:

The best place to rent skis and boots in the village
Best restaurants
Experiences of the Geneva to Martigny train service

Many thanks

Joe

Hmm... I've been twice during the 'noughties' but it's still stretching
my memory a bit. I think I was there in 2002 and 2003.

Anyway, I think I got my stuff from the SkiSet hire shop. It was fine I
guess - quick service dispite being very busy, and I didn't kill myself
on the equipment. There's a small, board-oriented shop tucked away
around the back near Pub Mont Fort (see below) who were very good for a
friend of mine buying a board but I'm buggered if I can remember the
name of the shop.

Best restaurants - I remember the Caveau being nice for fondue,
raclette and the like. It's a cellar in the centre of town and it's
popular, so do book. If really liked the Offshore (nearest bar to the
Medran lift) for a snack and a hot chocolate. It's a cool surf bar
with, if I recall correctly, a pink VW parked in the door. No, really.

Les Rosalp is the michelin starred eatery and is meant to be good, with
"good" prices to match - not eaten here though.

For apres ski, I seem to remember Farinet bar being ace - good live
music (sometimes *very* good) with cocktails to match. I've been blind
drunk in here by 7pm before (*awaits shouts of "lightweight! Why so
long?!" from various other posters*)

Pub Mont Fort is a sometimes horrible combination of locals,
seasonaires and tourists. It can be good, and it always has, erm,
atmosphere.

There is (was?) a horribly expensive nightclub in town called the Farm
which is where the likes of Fergie, Diana Ross and various bankers (i.e
the people that own the banks, not merely the Essex city boys) have
been known to hang out. I didn't bother.

Skiing - nice "intermediates paradise" (now there's an overused term)
which after two weeks left me a little bored. Off-piste is meant to be
good and the blacks from the top of Mont Fort are good exercise if you
like moguls. The run(s) back to the bottom of the Medran lift get
horrible late afternoon. Flat windy roads that idiots take at breakneck
(literally in some cases I'm sure) speed.

Not taken a train from Geneva to Martigny, but a guy I shared a chalet
with said it was good. I mean, this is Switzerland right? If they're 30
second late, expect an apology.

And I'll leave you with a quote from the Indy who described it,
accurately as "spiritually positioned somewhere between Zurich and the
Fulham Road."

Enjoy! I certainly did.

Matt

In message , Joe Hunt
writes

The best place to rent skis and boots in the village
Best restaurants
Experiences of the Geneva to Martigny train service


Swiss trains are comfortable and efficiently run. And you can see
something of the Rhone Valley, for instance near Martigny they grow a
wide variety of fruit: Martigny's main industry is the production of
eau-de-vie from the fruit. Enjoy.

The best place to hire kit is the nearest to your accomodation that's
got what you want, especially if Verbier's steep streets are slushy and
slippery.

--
Sue ]

In article ,
MadCow wrote:
In message , Joe Hunt
writes
The best place to rent skis and boots in the village
Best restaurants
Experiences of the Geneva to Martigny train service

Swiss trains are comfortable and efficiently run. And you can see
something of the Rhone Valley, for instance near Martigny they grow a
wide variety of fruit: Martigny's main industry is the production of

A few years back I popped over to Chamonix for some pre-X-mas shopping
and on the leg returning to Martigny (it was still a school day) and the
train was fairly empty, I was sitting behind the engineer and the
conductor when they noticed I was taking pictures of their work.
They (the French) invited me into the cab, and I got to drive the train up
to the Swiss border (dead man brake and accelerator). They were bored.

The most interesting parts of the Rhone might be considered higher up.

The best place to hire kit is the nearest to your accomodation that's
got what you want, especially if Verbier's steep streets are slushy and
slippery.

What I need to find out about is the Western theme restaurant/resort.

--